WRITEDOWNS, THE NAME GAME THE MEDIA PLAYS. By The Mental Pugilist

Over the past couple of months, many Americans have sat down ,with there families, to watch their favorite nightly news program. The most prominent story reported on is the U.S. financial meltdown ,due to the housing market. Following one of these headlines, there is a story of some big bank or financial institution , having too "WRITEDOWN" billions of dollars worth of bad commercial paper. Why does the media refuse to use the proper accounting term? Instead the use the ambiguous term "WRITEDOWN" ! Is this a clever play on words that the media uses to pull the wool over the eyes of the public?
As an accountant and a auditor at a large CPA firm, I often am amused by the way the media reports on financial matters, especially if the news is bad. With somone with experience in examining financial statements , I will shed some light on the issue. The definition of a writedown is when a company has a asset on its balance sheet and the particular asset looses value . It is written down to the market value. What the media doesn't tell you is how it is reported on the companies Income Statement! What does a writedown mean for the company?
The real term that should be used is it is a LOSSS!!!! When you here Bear Sterns or Citigroup has written down 40 billion dollars, what really is happening is those companies have lost 40 billion dollars!!!!!! You will never here a news anchor utter the words loss with any of these stories!
One has to wonder why? Is it to protect us from the panic it might cause? If for the last 8 months , the nightly news anchors took to the airwaves using the proper term loss, which most Americans would understand a lot better than writedown, how would we react? Who are they protecting from the release of the real meaning of the billions of billions of dollars of LOSSES these companies are sustaining because of risky mortgage backed securities?
I guess its like the U.S. dollar. The media always reports on the FED and interest rate cuts and how the market reacts positively. Or the great news about the stimulus package that will put money in our pockets. Let me let you in on a little secret! Every time the feds unleashes the above, it destroys the value of the U.S. Dollar!!!! The best asset protection plan for any country is a strong monetary policy, the above undermines it.
How come no politician wll ever talk about the U.S. dollar. They only talk of more spending and interest rate cuts. Does this make you feel better? It shouldn't, You destroy the dollar you destroy the middle class. Ever wonder why oil is at such a high price? Don't be fooled by the media's BS on supply shortage or refinery capacity, Its the dollar stupid! 1$=1.56Euro

Oh ya I forgot, move along people nothing to see here, just some "WRITEDOWNS"!!

To Bad Dr. No won't be president!!!!!